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Power Rangers Ninja Storm
Power Rangers: Ninja Storm (often abbreviated as "PRNS") was the eleventh incarnation of the Power Rangers TV series, based on the Super Sentai series Ninpu Sentai Hurricaneger (English: Covert Wind Squadron Hurricanger) Production After acquiring Power Rangers ''in 2002 as part of their purchase of the Fox Kids franchise, Disney decided to cancel the show at the conclusion of Power Rangers Wild Force, but were convinced to continue with the show when informed they could produce it for a fraction of the previous cost by moving production to New Zealand. As well as this, Disney chose to make the show non-union, which resulted in much of the crew (including long-time producer Jonathan Tzachor) being let go. Ninja Storm was based on the Super Sentai series ''Ninpū Sentai Hurricanger. A subsidiary of Disney named Buena Vista Entertainment managed the Power Rangers property after Disney took over, and MMPR Productions was dissolved. Doug Sloan, the production manager from the show's inception until the midway mark of Turbo, and Ann Austen (another past production team member) returned to Power Rangers for the first time in years as the head of the show for Disney. A few past writers were also brought back into the fold. Jackie Marchand returned to be the story editor. Koichi Sakamoto (the leader of Alpha Stunts team and producer) remained on the show. Ninja Storm brought a lot of lightheartedness to Power Rangers. This was met with mixed reception from fans. Nevertheless, Ninjas Storm aired on ABC and ABC Family like Wild Force before it. Due to union and cost issues, Ninja Storm was the first season to not feature a teamup with the previous year's team since the trend began in Lost Galaxy. Due to the new ownership and its lighthearted story, the series brought new interest to the franchise as ratings and toy sales went up. Doug Sloan would interact heavily with fans at this point, posting on Rangerboard and the Newsgroup. Sally Martin and Jason Chan (Tori and Cam on Ninja Storm) would also make appearances at Rangerboard. Doug would interact with fans for the rest of his run until the end of Dino Thunder. An early episode in Ninja Storm's run was cut by the censors. It was later reedited and shown out of production order. Originally it dealt with a peace conference to avoid a war, however was held back due to the outbreak of the Iraq War as it was felt an anti-war message would not be appropriate. The episode, 'Snip It, Snip It Good' aired later in the run, with the peace conference substituted with an environmental conference. Synopsis A skateboarder (Shane Clarke), a surfer (Tori Hanson) and a dirtbiker (Dustin Brooks), are students of the Wind Ninja Academy, under the tutelage of Sensei Kanoi Watanabe and his son Cam. Although it seems as if they will never be good enough to be full-fledged ninja, they are the only three left when the evil ninja master, Lothor arrives on Earth and captures all the other students. Their sensei, who was transformed into a guinea pig by Lothor, decided that they would become Wind Power Rangers and gave them Wind Morphers to allow them to transform. As the Wind Rangers, they fought to save the world from Lothor and his space minions, using Zords created by Cam for emergencies. Over time, they were joined by the Thunder Rangers, Hunter and Blake, as well as Cam, who gained Green Samurai powers in a trip to the past. The show marked a turning point for the franchise with a willingness to make fun of itself and its history (a theme that would return in "Dino Thunder".) Of special note is that Lothor, instead of the standard melodramatic evil emperor, had a sense of humor and often got lines that sent up the show. After making a monster grow, he seems to turn to the camera and say "What'd you expect? It wasn't going to get smaller." In the final episode, when piloting a robot against the Zords, he yells "This is the most fun I've had all season!" Eventually, the Rangers managed to defeat all of Lothor's minions, unwittingly overloading the Abyss of Evil (to which they were all sent upon their demise). The Wind Rangers were able to stop evil from spreading across the Earth, and sealed Lothor away in the Abyss of Evil...along with their own powers. Now powerless, Shane, Tori and Dustin became teachers at the rebuilt Wind Ninja Academy, aided by Cam and a newly human Sensei. Hunter took a job as the head teacher at the Thunder Ninja Academy while his brother Blake continued his racing career. And they lived happily ever after... Thunder Storm ...that is until the following year, when the Ninja Storm Rangers appeared in two episodes of Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, entitled Thunder Storm (parts 1 and 2). The former Rangers are shown settled into their new careers. Blake goes to Reefside (the location of the Dino Thunder series) to compete in a motocross tournament, and meets Conner, Ethan and Kira when he's there. They go to watch him compete, but are perplexed when he is suddenly called away after the race. Meanwhile, Lothor claws his way out of the Abyss of Evil. He forms an alliance with Mesogog and, posing as Sensei Watanabe, brainwashes Shane, Tori and Dustin into taking corrupted power disks, which turns them to Lothor's side. They recapture the students of the Wind Ninja Academy, and beat back the three primary Dino Thunder Rangers. Hunter, Blake and Cam enter the Abyss of Evil, and fight off Zurgane to rescue their lost powers. As the Wind Ninja and Dino Thunder Rangers duel unmorphed, Hunter, Blake and Cam appear and cure the Wind Rangers of their mind control by using the true Wind power discs. The two teams of Rangers - including Trent Mercer and Tommy Oliver - meet with Mesogog and Lothor's combined force, obliterating it and causing Elsa to flee. Mesogog and Lothor duel for supremacy. They seem to be evenly matched until Mesogog uses his mind powers to shrink Lothor to the size of an action figure ("Very collectible") and traps him a jar. At the end, it is discovered that when the Ninja Storm Rangers' Powers were extracted from the Abyss of Evil, they only had enough energy for one last battle so they return to their normal lives, leaving the Dino Thunder Rangers to protect the world. Both teams watch Blake win the Motocross Tournament. Characters Rangers :Main articles: Ninja Rangers, Wind Rangers, and Thunder Rangers '' Allies *Sensei Kanoi Watanabe - the sensei of the Wind Ninja Academy, turned into a guinea pig by Lothor (played and voiced by Grant McFarland) *Kelly *Miko Watanabe - Cam's Mom *Cyber Cam- a holographic, more outgoing version of Cam who takes control of Ninja Ops' control center when the real Cam becomes a Ranger *Dino Thunder Power Rangers Villains * Lothor - the evil general who was once Kiya Watanabe, the brother of Sensei Watanabe * Marah and Kapri - Lothor's nieces * Zurgane - the main general of Lothor's army. * Choobo - the lieutenant, promoted general. * Vexacus - a renegade bounty hunter. * Motodrone - Once fused with a human named Perry, Motodrone was rebuilt and reprogrammed under Lothor's command. * Shimazu - the incarnation of a Japanese legend. * Beevil - Marah's old friend and temporary replacement. Beevil created the Kelzak Furies. * Kelzaks - the footsoldiers. ** Kelzak Furies - and upgraded variation of the Kelzaks. * Evil Ninja Rangers * List of Ninja Storm Monsters Arsenal Morphers * Wind Morphers - Morphers of the Wind Rangers, powered by Ninja discs. * Thunder Morphers - Morphers of the Thunder Rangers. * Samurai Amulet - Morpher of the Green Samurai Ranger, originally the Samurai Amulet. * Battlizer Morpher (Lightning Morpher) - Device that allows the Red Ranger access to the Battlizer Armor, a power granted to him by the Karmanion Skyla. ''Lightning Morpher was name given to the toy released by Bandai in the US, however this name was not used on screen. Weapons *Ninja Sword/Laser Blaster - Standard Ranger weapon, sword becomes blaster by combining with sheathe. *Thunderstorm Cannon **Storm Striker ***Hawk Blaster (Red Wind Ranger/Shane) ***Lion Hammer (Yellow Wind Ranger/Dustin) ***Sonic Fin (Blue Wind Ranger/Tori) **Thunder Blaster ***Navy Antler (Navy Thunder Ranger/Blake) ***Crimson Blaster (Crimson Thunder Ranger/Hunter) *Thunder Staff - Standard Thunder weapons, can serve also as shield (Thunder Shield) and fire laser shurikens (Tornado Star). *Thunder Blade - Personal weapon of the Navy Thunder Ranger. *Samurai Saber - Sword of the Green Ranger, can be used to amplify his voice. *Lightning Riff Blaster - Guitar weapon that summons the Mighty Mammoth Zord. Originally used by the Green Samurai Ranger, but later on used by other Rangers. Vehicles * Ninja Gliders - Aerial transports for the 3 Wind Rangers; summoned by pressing their belt buckles. * Tsunami Cycles - Motorcycles used by the Wind and Thunder Rangers. * Mobile Command Center - 18-Wheeled truck that carries the Tsunami Cycles. * Ninja Glider Cycle - Personal transport of the Crimson Thunder Ranger (appears to combine the Tsunami Cycle and Ninja Glider). * Dragon Force Vehicle - Transport used by the Green Ranger; can be serpentine or compact. Zords Episode List VHS/DVD Releases DVD * Power Rangers Ninja Storm (Complete Season) RC2 * Power Rangers Seasons 8-12 (Lightspeed Rescue to Dino Thunder) Notes *The Green Samurai Ranger (Cam) is not the only Green Samurai Ranger; 7 seasons after Ninja Storm, they introduced Mike; the Green Samurai Ranger from Samurai. * This is the first incarnation of the series since Zeo to not include the "Next time" segment after each episode. * This is the first time that a series starts off with only three Rangers (although the standard six are in place by the series finale). * This is the first season not to feature at least one Ranger or character from previous season/s, followed by Jungle Fury and RPM. Note that Mystic Force featured the former Rita Repulsa from the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers as the Mystic Mother and Piggy from SPD, and Samurai features Bulk * This is the first series where all the Power Rangers actually had powers when unmorphed to use in everyday life. Though Andros from In Space ''is the first Ranger to have been born naturally with powers. *This is the first series to be aired on Jetix and Toon Disney. Thus, it is considered by many fans to be the official start of the "Disney Era" of Power Rangers. * It is the first series since ''Turbo ''to have an ending which features the Rangers in losing their powers. The other series before this involved either the Rangers getting to keep their powers, or instead giving them up. Though the Ninja Storm Rangers briefly regained their powers in the ''Dino Thunder team-up, only to lose them again, but Tori would regain hers four years later in Once a Ranger. * During the "Shimazu Returns" storyarc, the Rangers are forced to pilot their zords in their unmorphed civilian form, a Power Rangers first. This is especially notable as the cockpit scenes are usually from the Sentai counterpart and the fact the'' Power Rangers'' piloted the zords unmorphed required the US production to build sets not normally required and for the sets to match the Japanese sets. * While the Green Samurai Ranger has an identity in Ninja Storm (that identity being Cam), his original Japanese counterpart, Shurikenger from Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger's true identity was his permanently costumed form. Also, Cam's Sentai counterpart is actually a ninja, not a samurai. * This is the first team to be assembled from three different factions of Rangers (Wind Rangers, Thunder Rangers, and Samurai Ranger) rather than one group from the same power source. However, there are noticeable similarities in their suits. * It is the first (and currently only) season to have exactly three morphing calls. These morphing calls were "Ninja Storm, Ranger Form," "Thunder Storm, Ranger Form," and "Samurai Storm, Ranger Form." *Early in Ninja Storm it is suggested that all previous series were just comic books, thereby retconning them out of the series canon and making Ninja Storm the first "Real" Power Rangers series, however this proved highly controversial and the concept was abandoned. Though the comic book line doesn't necessarily invalidate the continuity as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles assumed that the Rangers were just comic book characters in Shell Shocked. *Jorgito Vargas Jr. is three years older than his TV brother Adam Tuominen, despite his character Blake being the younger brother in the series. *In an episode, Marah and Kapri mention that "The boys from Triforia are three times as cute as Earth." This is an obvious throwback to Trey, the original Gold Ranger who split into three. *This was the first series to only have one female Ranger. This would be repeated in Dino Thunder, and again Jungle Fury. Alien Rangers' Delphine is the only female on her team, but Alien Rangers is not a full season. *In episode 3, it is revealed by Tori Hanson (Sally Martin) that Dustin Brooks' (Glenn McMillan) real name is Waldo. *This series marks the biggest difference in gender ratio throughout Power Rangers, with there being five male Rangers on the completed team as opposed to only one female. *An early concept for Ninja Storm, Hexagon, by Forever Red writer Amit Bhaumik would keep the core three Rangers, but would deviate heavily from Hurricanger. ''Bhaumik's plot involved the return of Tommy Oliver joining forces with different previous Rangers to form a larger fighting force. However, the Phantom Ranger would oppose this (Bhaumik has not stated his intended reason) and would form his own group of Rangers, starting a civil war of sorts between the two Ranger factions. However, the idea was discarded in production due to the unforeseen complications and expenses of using the American actors, as well as producing all new non-Sentai footage. *This is the first Power Rangers series to have a female Blue Ranger, and the first since the ''Alien Rangers mini-series to have a male Yellow Ranger. *This is the first Power Rangers series not to use the phrase "power down" to morph back to normal, instead using "ninja form" (though this happens only once). *''Ninja Storm'' starts a trend where actors in the season at one point or another appeared on the New Zealand TV series, "The Tribe." Sally Martin had a guest role in the show's fourth season. James Napier, who played Eric McKnight in the Ninja Storm finale, and would go on to play Conner McKnight in the next season, played the role of Jay in seasons 4 and 5. Other actors include Tom Hern, Miriama Smith, Kelson Henderson, Dwayne Cameron, Antonia Prebble, Beth Allen, Vicky Rodewyk, and Ari Boyland. This trend would continue through Power Rangers RPM. *This is the first season where the rangers have an ending call after their morphs. This would later be followed by Dino Thunder, S.P.D., Mystic Force and Samurai. *Ninja Storm ran from February 15, 2003 to November 15, 2003 and coincidentally Super Megaforce runs from February 15, 2014 to November 15, 2014 Reception and Ratings To be added... : See Also * Hexagon - The original plan for the series External links * Power Rangers Ninja Storm Power Rangers - The Official Power Rangers Website